


Compendium: Travelers from an Antique Land

by GitariArt



Series: Travelers from an Antique Land [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Fantasy - Fandom, fantasy adventure - Fandom
Genre: Gen, suplimental material
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 15:50:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7469652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GitariArt/pseuds/GitariArt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarifying data for the main story</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compendium: Travelers from an Antique Land

**Author's Note:**

> This will be updated as needed. Incliding any spelling fails that are brought to my attention.

Travelers from an Ancient land

World specific flavor details

Note: if not listed here, then the creature, object, spell, etc. can be found in one of the née endless D&D 3.5edition rules or compatible open-source supplements.

 

CREATURES

Jeweled tinyphant – brightly colored elephants the size of large house cats. They are from a small tropical island, far from the great desert of Gyptios.<br />

Jub jub – sort of a muscular cross between a moa or ostrich and a peacock. Bred as mounts and highly suited for desert conditions.<br />

Hyenaid - effectively matriarchal gnolls. <br />

Microsphinx (AKA psuedosphinx) – tiny (cat-sized) mischievous magical beasts. Microsphinx are as smart as humans with the values of felines. In addition to human heads they have nimble hands, in place of forepaws. Like their larger cousins, microsphinx are obsessed with riddles and puzzles. Rumored to be favored of Bast, some microsphinx have been magically tamed into being familiars.

Scarabs, giant – ox-sized dung beetles. With minor offensive capacity and easily sustained on waste products, giant scarabs are a relatively cheep beast of burden from pulling carts to sanitizing city streets.

 

PLACES

[Gytios Map](http://gitariart.deviantart.com/art/Gyptios-Map-621278934)

[Map of Known Oases](http://gitariart.deviantart.com/art/Gyptios-Oases-Map-621281093)

[Map of Esna](http://gitariart.deviantart.com/art/Esne-Map-622026023)

Gyptios – the empire, originating from the desert state of the same name. Slavery is legal and regulated throughout Gyptios  Slaves are prisoners of war, debtors, or orphans and are effectively valued property. Damaging a slave is akin to attacking someone’s car in the modern world. Slaves can buy their freedom, while roughly one quarter have been freed after exemplary service, or retired with pension. 

Luxor  - capital of Gyptios (both state and empire). Population: 25,000 humans and other races; over 3,000 years old. Non-human races in the city are not restricted, but tend to cluster in certain districts: “Fairyland” is home largely to elves and half-elves, “Tinkertown” is the gnomish ghetto, while the Ibrixian district “horn town” and “slaughter row” houses many of the city’s monstrous humanoids and half-breeds.

Luxor monuments: the Palace Temple, home of Divine Pharaoh and the royal family. Central Temple of the Triumvirate (Osiris, Isis, and Re-Horakthy).

Portus (AKA Queen of Commerce): traditionally an independent country historically in conflict with the Empire of Gyptios. Portus allied with Gyptios, to fend of a mutual threat of orc invasion. The alliance continued after the invaders were repelled, with Portus accepting a statehood within Gyptios, while being granted concessions; including continuance of its traditional religious and cultural practices. Such practices including matriarchal and matrilineal governance, which also dominate Portuzonian warrior, clerical, and scholarly classes. In Portus, males are stereotyped as emotional, vain, and obsessed with sex, and therefore are generally ill-suited to the thinking of the public good, or staying rational in a crisis.

Portus: the state capital of the same name, is a thriving port which also houses the copper mint for the Gyptian Empire (hence the lighthouse and ship image, on the related coins).

Smyrna (AKA Stepping Stone to the West): Population c. 8,000, predominantly human, with a small half-elf and gnomish minorities. A small trade-city, significantly located at the foot of the mountains between Gyptios and Portus and on the route most directly connecting the respective capitals. Generally the population is homogeneous, however “undertown” is a gnomish ghetto within the city. The Nasir crime guild (known by members as simply “the Family”) have an especially powerful branch in Smyrna, lead by “Father” Kahim ibin Ja’far, one of the younger sons of the current god-father of the whole Family.

Esna (AKA Little Sister City): Across the Nile from Luxor, Esna is a blend of agricultural market, urban services, and trade from merchant caravans.  It has many of the advantages of Luxor, with fewer politics and less crime. Esna is led by the aristocratic Khayn family, Sakir Sal’am znd Akira Sal’am (heads of the Temple of Osiris), and Chief Engineer Faud bin Osaman. Esna is also home to the foremost War-Jub breeders, the Aphosis family, who live in a palace-estate rivaling the Khayn family’s.

 Kara Tur: far distant and exotic kingdom, known for silks, spices, teas, jade, porcelain, paper houses, and the like.

 

OBJECTS

Currency – the vast Empire of Gyptios has a regulated currency system, across its many component states. Gold is minted as leos, or lions; silver is minted as Horus, or hawks; copper is minted as ships, or ports. One aspect of every coin is determined by the reigning Pharaoh and may change, the other side of each coin remains constant and gives each denomination its common name.

Shading goggles – gnome-crafted eye-protection with lenses of alchemically tinted glass, protects against all manner of glare.

Sun-wagon – gnome-crated cart sized spheres of brass, housing a gyroscopically stabilized interior cargo net. Commonly pushed by domesticated giant scarabs.


End file.
